


Restored Honor

by turtle_abyss



Series: The 41st [1]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Gen, Light Angst, Ozai (Avatar) Being a Terrible Parent, Protective Sokka (Avatar)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-19
Updated: 2020-06-19
Packaged: 2021-03-04 04:27:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 804
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24797677
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/turtle_abyss/pseuds/turtle_abyss
Summary: "He burned for us," Chit Sang answers solemnly, eyes haunted as he stares into their little fire.
Relationships: Chit Sang & Zuko, Sokka & Zuko (Avatar)
Series: The 41st [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1802998
Comments: 146
Kudos: 3013
Collections: AtLA <10k fics to read, Quality Fics





	Restored Honor

**Author's Note:**

  * For [EraserJester](https://archiveofourown.org/users/EraserJester/gifts).



> Sorry, my ironstrange fans - I'm taking a temporary foray into ATLA because at 28 years old I've finally gotten to watch it and I am IN LOVE. Zuko is my good boy and he deserves good things.  
> My first fic for ATLA was actually going to be something else, because I've been churning out words for a longer thing since I finished binging it on Netflix, but I was so inspired by the idea of Chit Sang being one of the survivors of the massacre of the 41st Division that I couldn't help myself. (holy fuck Chit Sang was WASTED as an opportunity! Thank you EraserJester for putting this beautiful idea in my head!)

They escape from the Boiling Rock and return to the Western Air Temple triumphant. Sokka spends the evening regaling the others with the story of their adventure while he and his sister cling to their father. He hasn't felt so happy since way before the Day of Black Sun and everyone is clearly riding the high of victory with him.

Maybe that's why it takes so long for him to notice the way Chit Sang looks at Zuko.

Like he's two moments away from either crying or bowing at Zuko's feet. Like he's looking at a ghost and a god all at the same time. It's a quiet sort of worship and respect.

Zuko doesn’t seem to notice.

Sokka doesn’t want to make his new friend uncomfortable - even though Zuko always seems to be uncomfortable - so he waits until Zuko is off doing his solo brooding thing to confront their second firebender.

After dinner, when Zuko retires early, Sokka jabs his elbow into Chit Sang's side.

"I know it's probably weird - him being your prince and all - but you don't need to be so stiff and awkward around him. He's cool, man," he says with a friendly smile.

He doesn't get the reaction he expects. He doesn't really know what he expected in the first place. But it wasn't for the imposing man to curl up tightly, knees to chest, and clutch at his arms so tightly his knuckles went white.

"You don't understand," he says, expression dark and troubled and mournful.

"Oh?" his dad asks lightly, curiosity piqued.

"He burned for us," Chit Sang answers solemnly, eyes haunted as he stares into their little fire.

"What?" Aang asks near silently from across the fire, the shadows dancing eerily across his concern. It makes him look haunted too.

Chit Sang shakes his head though and stands abruptly, shoulders bowed under something heavy. He goes to leave them, but pauses at the twisting edges of light and darkness.

"Prince Zuko will have my loyalty long after I'm dead," he declares - to the Avatar and the moon and that tiny fire - before he lets the darkness take him.

They are quiet around the fire.

It isn't until much later, when they've defeated Ozai and Azula and Zuko is crowned Fire Lord and _the war is over_ , that Sokka sees Chit Sang again. That tall, imposing man kneels and touches his head to the floor before his Fire Lord, in full display of everyone and in spite of his Fire Lord's discomfort, and pledges his undying fealty.

And then he says something that means nothing to Sokka but paints shock and horror across Zuko's rapidly paling face and Sokka nearly intervenes, nearly drags the man up from the floor and out the door. He's become much more protective of Zuko since those first days of fledgling friendship and it gets him in trouble sometimes. He just barely manages to stop himself when Zuko's expression twists to pure pain and it clearly takes all his stubborn strength to stay upright.

Sokka doesn't understand. There's too much history he doesn't know here.

"You burned for us," Chit Sang says once more, actually crying this time.

Zuko stumbles forward, one hand reaching for the man bowed before him.

"You burned for my men and that is a debt I will never be able to repay."

"I didn't save them," Zuko says quietly and sits on his knees before Chit Sang.

"But you tried," Chit Sang says, voice full of wet gratitude. "No one else cared. They ordered my young brothers and sisters to their deaths gleefully and made no apologies when their ploy failed. When I survived and came back, when I heard that you'd tried, when I heard what they did to you for it…"

Zuko bows his head so that Sokka can't see his face and lays one hand on Chit Sang's shoulder.

"Well. I was in that prison for a reason. And it wasn't just to keep me quiet."

The hall is silent.

It's not something to interrupt, but it seems wrong to stand and watch.

The nobles, Sokka notes from the corner of his eye, have turned away with grimaces and guilt and discomfort.

"I'm sorry," Zuko murmurs eventually, like an absolution, and grasps Chit Sang by the shoulders to sit him up and face him like an equal.

"As am I," Chit Sang murmurs back, and Sokka hurts for the grief carved into his once-cheerful face. "I would be honored to serve on your guard, Your Majesty, if you would accept me."

Katara, beside him, sucks in a harsh breath. Toph stamps her foot in quiet approval.

Zuko smiles.

"The honor would be mine," he says with a subtle bow of his head.

Maybe, Sokka thinks, this is the honor Zuko had been searching for.

**Author's Note:**

> Please let me know if you liked it? I was hijacked by inspiration and wrote this in an hour and I'm brand new to the atla fandom so...  
> Also I'm turtlewritesthings over on tumblr if any of you ever wanna hit me up! :)

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Burning for Us](https://archiveofourown.org/works/25025467) by [terracyte](https://archiveofourown.org/users/terracyte/pseuds/terracyte)
  * [fault line](https://archiveofourown.org/works/27534844) by [beachytablecloth](https://archiveofourown.org/users/beachytablecloth/pseuds/beachytablecloth)




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